Employment
The first employer of PAs was the then Veterans Administration, known today as the Department of Veterans Affairs. Today, the VA is the largest single employer of PAs, employing nearly 2000 PAs. One of the first three graduates of the Duke program in 1967 was Mr. Vic Germino who was employed after graduation by the Durham, NC VA Medical Center, where he remained for over 25 years. In July 2010, Mr. Germino was honored by the Veteran Affairs Physician Assistant Association (VAPAA) with an honorary membership and assigning him the special membership number 0001 in honor of Mr. Germino being the first PA employed by the VA.
According to the AAPA, there were an estimated 68,124 PAs in clinical practice as of January 2008.
In the 2008 AAPA census, 56 percent of responding PAs worked in physicians' offices or clinics and 24 percent were employed by hospitals. The remainder were employed in public health clinics, nursing homes, schools, prisons, home health care agencies, and the United States Department of Veterans Affairs Fifteen percent of responding PAs work in counties classified as non-metropolitan by Economic Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture; approximately 17% of the US population resides in these counties.
The U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics report on PAs states, "...Employment of physician assistants is expected to grow 27 percent from 2006 to 2016, much faster than the average for all occupations..." This is due to several factors, including an expanding health care industry, an aging baby-boomer population, concerns for cost containment, and newly-implemented restrictions to shorten physician resident work hours.
For PAs in primary care practice, malpractice insurance policies with $100,000–300,000 in coverage can cost less than $600 per year; premiums are higher for PAs in higher-risk specialties.
Money magazine, in conjunction with Salary.com, listed the PA profession as the "fifth best job in America" in May 2006, based both on salary and job prospects, and on an anticipated 10-year job growth of 49.65%. In 2010, CNN Money rated the Physician Assistant Career as the number two Best Job In America. In 2012, Forbes rated the Physician Assistant Degree as the number one Master's Degree for jobs. According to the 2012 National Salary Survey of PAs, the mean total income for physician assistants working full-time was $102,165. Physician assistants in emergency medicine, dermatology, and surgical subspecialties may earn $100,000 to $200,000 per year.
Read more about this topic: National Physician Assistant Week
Famous quotes containing the word employment:
“The boatmen appeared to lead an easy and contented life, and we thought that we should prefer their employment ourselves to many professions which are much more sought after. They suggested how few circumstances are necessary to the well-being and serenity of man, how indifferent all employments are, and that any may seem noble and poetic to the eyes of men, if pursued with sufficient buoyancy and freedom.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Combining paid employment with marriage and motherhood creates safeguards for emotional well-being. Nothing is certain in life, but generally the chances of happiness are greater if one has multiple areas of interest and involvement. To juggle is to diminish the risk of depression, anxiety, and unhappiness.”
—Faye J. Crosby (20th century)
“What most clearly characterizes true freedom and its true employment is its misemployment.”
—G.C. (Georg Christoph)